


Extraordinary

by Calendar (ikarit)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-07-15
Updated: 2004-07-15
Packaged: 2017-10-25 00:17:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/269519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ikarit/pseuds/Calendar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She was the first person to believe in his dream. He just doesn't know it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Extraordinary

When she saw him for the first time, he was seven years old and yelling at the top of his lungs. Later, when she knew him better, she would find that Naruto was _usually_ yelling at the top of his lungs. For him, that day was a day like all the other days, nothing special or extraordinary.

For Hinata, it was the most extraordinary of days.

Since that day, in the years that passed, she forgot most of the other details. She didn't know why she'd been out that day, or what happened the rest of that day, but she could recall every instant of that meeting.

She'd been walking down the street, clinging tightly to her father's arm, when the shouts rang out just ahead of them.

A bucket of paint rolled on the ground, blue splashes of color against the ground. Beside it, a man in an apron held a young boy by the ear, shaking him roughly. "You've got some nerve, kid! In broad daylight!"

"Ha! You deserve it! Your food sucks!" The boy's bright, spiked blond hair served as a shining complement to his huge grin.

Hinata's startled eyes quickly found the source of the problem. A nearby restaurant had blue paint splattered all over it in strange designs. There were even a few phrases in childish handwriting-the boy had managed to get quite a lot done before anyone had noticed, and on the busy street, too.

Their argument continued on for a few minutes, but Hinata was focused on something else. A crowd was gathering to watch the commotion, and they didn't look happy. Her fingers tightened their grip on her father's arm.

"Isn't that...?"

"It is, it's _him_."

"Ungrateful monster."

"Wish he would just die and leave us be!"

It seemed as if the mutual agreement of distaste spurred the villagers on to greater, louder and angrier complaints, for their comments grew steadily worse.

The boy and the restauranteur were still yelling at each other. It seemed the man wanted the boy to wash off the paint, and the boy was refusing. He sulked and yelled and shot defiant glares at the assembled crowd talking about him.

As they walked closer to the source of the argument, Hinata watched as the man shot off another insult.

"Insolent brat! You're never going to amount to anything-why not just leave us in peace?"

The boy's mouth tightened, and at his side, his hands clenched into fists. "You're _wrong_! I'm gonna be Hokage, and then you'll all see!"

There was a long silence.

And then everyone started to laugh. The only ones silent were Hinata, her father, and the boy himself. Hinata could never laugh at another person, and her father never laughed at anything. The boy trembled with rage.

She stared at the boy with wide eyes. In her whole life, she'd never felt anything near as strong as the emotions in that boy appeared to be.

"Just you wait! I'm gonna be Hokage one day, and then you'll all have to acknowledge Uzumaki Naruto!" He turned in the man's grasp, and drew his arm back to punch him-only to have his hand caught by his captor.

"Yeah, sure, kid. How you gonna manage that if you can't even hit me? Come on, you have paint to wash off." Still laughing, the man started to drag Naruto away, the boy fighting the whole way. The gathering of people watching the fight, apparently deciding it was over, began to disperse.

As Hinata and her father passed the struggling boy, her eyes met his for just a second. She'd never seen such blue eyes before. In those blue eyes, there was a fearlessness, an absolute resolve, and a determination to succeed without exception. In the face of those insults and the laughter, he still managed to hold together a resolution that seemed almost impossible, without any apparently uncertainty. The moment passed, and she walked on.

"One day, I'll be Hokage!" he said loudly to the dispersing crowd. "You'll see!"

She believed him.


End file.
